Woman seen in bubble-bath photo is alive and not Paris suicide bomber

The woman seen soaking in a bubble bath on the front pages of the world's newspapers and websites and dubbed "thug in a tub" by the New York Post, is not, in fact, the woman who was blown up in a police raid in Paris last week.

Nabila Bakkatha, the woman in that photo, is still very much alive. Hasna Ait Boulahcen, the alleged terrorist — is dead.

The photos were sold to a journalist by a former friend who was reportedly out for revenge and had noticed the similarities between the two women. Speaking to the media outlet AJ+, Bakkatha said she had no connection to terrorism — and she wants to correct the record.

"The photograph was taken by my friend, who sold it to a French journalist after the Paris attacks in revenge," Bakkatha told CNN. "Three days ago, another friend called me saying that my photographs are ... on the front pages of a number of international newspapers."

"My family was shocked, and some of my relatives are not talking to me anymore," she said. She added that she's currently suing the former friend as well as the journalist who purchased and published the photos. "My life changed drastically, I stopped going to work, and I cannot go out anymore as I live in continuous fear," she said. "I am sure I will face a lot of problems if I travel to France."

For the record, Bakkatha doesn't think she looks at all like the woman once identified as Europe's first female suicide bomber — another claim that was walked back after police said the woman may not have blown up herself.

"Look at these photos, similarities in looks with her are so minimal," she told CNN. "Whoever compares our pictures will spot the differences and that we don't look like each other at all."

Her true identity was first revealed by a Moroccan news outlet.

Some of those who first ran the photos have already started to issue retractions and corrections. The Daily Mail, which published the photos as an "exclusive," removed them from its website and deleted a tweet that had the photo attached. Mashablepublished a story that included the embedded tweet from the Daily Mail. We have updated the story and removed that embed.

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